More updates of Post-IMPACT...

Dan Weiss, one of our fearless leaders, is still posting regarding our recent trip to the Dominican Republic. If you would like to hear his perspective on happenings of the trip, please check it out here.

Hope all are well! Parents, thanks for letting us spend an amazing 10 days with your kids in the DR! It was a true pleasure and very refreshing for Ali and I.

God loves.

I think that has been a theme so far. God loves the DR. God loves us. No matter what, God loves.

God has been rocking us the past few days (in a good way). We have done 2 extremely hot, intense, and crazy VBS days. The kids are doing so well! They are jumping right in and loving kids like crazy! This group has so much excitement that follows them... in the bus, in the rooms, eating dinner, and all that definitely flows into VBS as well. So proud of them.

This team has blown us leaders away so far. They are unified. There has been no drama. They have bonded as a group with Dominicans (already getting Pastor Quena to do crazy dance moves on the first day and laugh a lot). They are so flexible (despite the difficult living conditions... water in rooms, no showers at times, wet beds from leaking AC, AC that often doesn't work and when it does it's under 40 degrees, etc). They care so much about each other. But because of this, the enemy is going to be trying to break this apart. Be praying for that.

We had a amazing moment of brokneness as a team for debrief last night. Super vulnerable with each other. Lots of prayer. God is good!

More to come later, but sorry for short posts but internet has been shaky.

Thanks for all your prayers and comments. I will try to read some to team.

If you are parents, you would be so proud of your kids. They are rocking it!

-Kory

We are here!

We made it! Flights went smoothly. Some kids slept on bus, plane, and bus again... while others still are going on no sleep. We are at Pastor Quena's right now eating a FEAST! Good thing because the kids were hungry. We will be heading back to the hotel soon to get some much needed sleep. Just wanted to send a quick update to say we are here all safe and sound.

Please be praying for strong rest tonight! Tomorrow will be a prep day, but will be packed full as well. It is a crucial day to prepare the students for the week of ministry.

Thanks for all your prayers and support. We will keep you posted.

-Kory

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The Team

IMPACT DR 2011 - Here we come!

Hello parents, friends, family, and prayer warriors! This is the blog you will be following over the course of the next couple of weeks to stay tuned with what is happening with the IMPACT team! We are so excited about this group of 20 students who have worked so hard since January to prepare for this trip. Please be praying in the following ways:

-PRAY for divine appointments with the Dominican people
-PRAY for health and physical endurance
-PRAY for VBS-energy, enthusiasm, and a connection with the kids in hopes to plant seeds
-PRAY for dramas and testimonies-allow our stories to relate to their stories
-PRAY that we offer encouragement to the leaders that have been there before us and will stay there after us
-PRAY against the the enemy's schemes
-PRAY for wisdom and discernment by leaders
-PRAY for ready, open, willing hearts from students
-PRAY for debrief time

Please be in prayer and allow the Spirit to lead you to pray for us. Please intercede on our behalf.

Expect more to come on this blog later!

-Kory

children...

No time to rest!

I would like to start out by saying that I am sorry for not posting more frequently. I am saying this in all honesty when I say that there is hardly any time to get to a computer. We are on the GO! Ever since Wednesday morning we have hardly even had time to breathe. The kids (and myself) are getting tired, but God has truly been renewing our strength daily. It has been neat to see the kids fight through extreme heat, minor sicknesses, and major fatigue. God has been good in restoring our strength while the kids are embracing every thing thrown their way and not complaining in the process.

A few nights ago Sam Borg (our project leader) spoke to us about spiritual warfare and it was extremely powerful! He talked about eating from the tree of life rather thant he tree of knowledge of good and evil. He talked about hating sin with righteous anger. He became vulnerable with us about his own life as he shared his burden to see people "stand up" and be warriors for Christ. He talked about the spiritual battle on our hands and how much power we have in Jesus Christ... if we acknowledge it and use it. Many kids began to recognize the spiritual battle all around us for the first time and accepted the challenge to fight off the enemy's attempts to "seek, kill, and destroy." Very powerful night!

VBS has pretty much finished and the kids ended on a strong note. It has been exciting to see how the little things have impacted the lives of our kids in supernatural ways. I am praying that many of our kids will bring these "life lessons" back with them as they dive into the sinful world surrounding them. Today was a day that helped in preparing them for that. We spent most of the day at the local park loving the people in very intentional ways. Each of the kids had an assignment. They had a list of specific questions that they needed to use in sparking spiritual conversations. It was probably very similar to DCGO but with a language barrier. Our team loved hundreds of more kids and many older adults which was very rewarding. The students were nervous heading into the day, but many left with rewarding results as many spiritual conversations took place.

There has been a lot of laughter, some tears, and many great experiences over the past week that have hopefully blessed the Dominican people and challenged us to take these experiences from here (DR) to there (Indiana).

Keep praying as this trip is far from over!

Comfort Zone

God has already stretched the kids out of their comfort zones in so many ways. It all started with an impromptu worship service at Pastor Quena’s house on Tuesday night. We were planning just relaxing and figuring out last minute VBS stuff and then all the sudden Quena had some visitors. For us leaders, the visitors looked like a perfect group of people to do some dramas, testimonies, and worship for. So, in the midst of some crazy chaos for about 5 minutes we told the kids to be ready to go! The kids were freaked! They didn’t have their drama supplies. They didn’t have their notes for testimonies. They hadn’t practiced enough to lead worship. What the kids saw as a very scary situation the leaders saw as a great opportunity to really stretch the kids. We prayed and the kids did awesome! So proud of how they took on the challenge without complaining and just pressed through. I didn’t know it at the time, but they passed the first of many more “comfort zone” challenges to come.

Little did I know that this Tuesday night would prepare them so well for the next day. The chaos and nervousness was just minuscule compared to the next day of VBS on Wednesday. Each of the three VBS sites had many more numbers than we (and Pastor Quena) anticipated. At the biggest site, Guanabano, we were planning on a large number of about 100 and had well over 160 kids!! The kids were loud and CRAZY! This can be intimidating when you ask 8 high school kids to take control with all these kids. The craziness was a common theme at all three sites! Even though our kids started the day a little shell-shocked they pressed through and all made big-time relationships with the kids. It was a common site to see one of our students completely covered in sweat with 30 little Dominicans literally climbing all over his or her back. It was a site that I could only look at and smile. These kids were getting the “real deal” VBS experience on the first day! Awesome!

Many of the kids did door-to-door evangelism Wednesday afternoon. This is something parents should definitely ask their students about. It was neat to see the kids struggle through awkward moments and conversations of God and Catholicism (most Dominicans are Catholic). This was a huge stretch for many of the kids because they were usually just at a loss for words. Overall, very good experience.

As you can see, this trip has already been loaded with uncomfortable, stretching situations. Keep praying for this as the kids are pressing through by trusting in nobody else but their Savior. Also pray for energy and enthusiasm as we fight the heat in another intense day of ministry.

Kids are doing great!

Kory

Ready and Waiting...

Sam (the "AIM" guy that is helping set all this up... fluent in Spanish) and I have been here in Moca, DR for the last few days gettings things all set up. We have worked on all the logistical side of things regarding VBS, door-to-door evangelism, street ministry, big out reach nights, bus pick ups, meals, hotel, etc. etc. etc. It has been exhausting working on all these "logistical" things, but it will be worth it when the kids get down here and we get to see how God transforms their lives in these few short days. Sam and I are ready for the kids to be here! We are excited about the ministry opportunities ahead of us. It is going to be an intense week as we will be on the GO from 6:30 a.m. until bedtime. Pray for energy and more energy! The people of the DR are very excited. We explained to some of them in church today that our kids are giving up summer break/vacation to come be with them. That is "abnormal" for the "normal" high school kid. I am very proud of our kids! I guess you could kind of call me a proud father... hey, that works perfect because it is Father's Day today! Pray for well executed travel as the kids leave tonight! Adios!

Happy Father's Day to all papas!

Kory

IMPACT DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 2009

It seems like just yesterday that I got back from Vanuatu.  Now I will be leaving for the Dominican Republic in less than 7 hours from now.  One may think that I would be worn down, beat-up, washed-out and not ready to leave the country again, but actually I feel quite the opposite.  I'm pumped!  Ali (my soon to be wife) and I will be leading a trip of 19 high school kids from Nappanee Missionary Church to Moca, Dominican Republic.  These kids are amazing!  I have already grown to enjoy every moment with them throughout the vigorous training process that started in January.  I have seen some amazing strides in each of the kids thus far and can only imagine how God is going to "rock their world" in the DR.  My parents and Kathy Brown will also be leading this venture as we minister to and with the Dominicans from June 22 to July 2.

If you read this post please pray for these kids.  Pray that they will be open and obedient to the Holy Spirit's leading.  As we ended our final meeting last night with communion, sharing, and prayer I sensed that the Holy Spirit is going to manifest Himself in a powerful way on this trip.  It is my prayer that we (the team) will not get in the way.  The verse in Proverbs 16 keeps coming to mind, "A man plans his course, but the Lord directs his path."  We have surely planned our course as a team.  We will be doing VBS, door-to-door evangelism, dramas, testimonies, and prayer walks.  Even though we have planned our course we never want to get in the way of the path the Holy Spirit wants us to take.  Please pray that the kids will begin understanding the importance of listening prayer and then obeying the Spirit's leading (even when it seems uncomfortable).  Please pray that the leaders will know how to push the students out of their comfort zones without pushing them over the edge.

I will be updating this blog through twitter (every day) and posts (every couple days) during the next 2 weeks.  The twitter tweets will be acting as a "preview" for what the kids are about to do and the blog posts will be acting as a "review" of what has been happening.  Please forgive me as I am not as dedicated as Derry at keeping everyone informed on our every move :)  

Thanks again for all your prayers.  Keep checking this blog to know more detailed ways to be praying.  Dios te bendiga! Adios!